Amantle Montsho (Athlete)
Date of Birth: 04/07/1983 (29 years)
Event: Women 400 metres
Home Village: Mabudutsa
Personal best: 59.54 s (29/06/2012)
She is the country's most decorated athlete going into the Olympics. Montsho, who turned 29 last Wednesday, carries not only the country's medal hopes at the London Games, but the dream gold medal. She is the reigning world 400 metre-world and Commonwealth Games champion. Her career took a sharp twist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games where she won Botswana's first gold and has never looked back since winning the IAAF Diamond League and World Championship as well as defending her African title at the All Africa Games. It is without a doubt that Montsho is now at the peak of her career. She recorded her personal best time of 49.54 secs at the Africa Athletics Championships in Benin, something to look at going into the Olympic games.
Strengths: At 1.73 metres, she uses her long strides to pull away from the pack in the first 200 metres. While she may not be one of the best sprinters, she is able to hold her lead in the final 400 metres. Unlike in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where she froze under pressure, she has improved a lot mentally and has won races, even where she had a poor reaction time.
